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Blakeview: John Bevins Moisant

We switch from ferries to flights to remember the original namesake for New Orleans' airport — John Bevins Moisant. Passengers flying in and out of the airport (which was renamed Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport in 2001) often wonder about the facility's MSY designation. It stands for Moisant Stock Yards.

Who was Moisant? A pioneer aviator and daredevil, he was known as the "King of Aviators" for being the first to conduct passenger flights over a city (New York) and the first to fly across the English Channel with a passenger. He came to New Orleans on New Year's Eve 1910 with his traveling group of daredevil aviators to thrill crowds with aeronautical acrobatics and an attempt to break the distance record for a nonstop flight.

Moisant took off from City Park, but his plane crashed in Kenner — near where the airport now stands. Later the area was turned into a stockyard and, oddly, was named in his honor. It made more sense to honor Moisant by naming the new airport for him when it opened there in 1946.